State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid on Thursday came down heavily on officials of state-owned Petrobangla and its subsidiaries for inefficiencies, warning of punitive action.
Petrobangla and its subsidiary companies have a target of drilling 100 gas fields by 2028. The state minister warned that officials failing to meet this target would be removed from their posts.
"If the success rate is zero, you will be zero," Nasrul Hamid said sternly. "No one will be spared and no excuses will be accepted for failure."
Hamid made these remarks as the keynote speaker at a seminar titled 'Gas Demand-Supply Scenario; Scope of Seismic Survey and Enhancement of Drilling Activities to Expedite Hydrocarbon Production'.
Petrobangla Chairman Zanendra Nath Sarker chaired the seminar, organised by Petrobangla itself. Energy Secretary Md Nurul Alam also addressed the audience.
During his speech, Nasrul Hamid criticised Petrobangla and its subsidiaries for lacking coordination in exploration activities.
"Due to inadequate coordination, we have seen instances where gas is found in a well, but the processing plant is unprepared to supply the gas to the national grid," he alleged.
He cited an example where it took four years to get gas from a well to the national grid.
In contrast, the state minister praised the state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and other power entities for achieving the goal of 100 per cent electrification through coordinated teamwork.
Managing Director of Bakhrabad Gas Distribution Company Anwarul Islam and General Manager of Petrobangla Meherul Hasan delivered keynote papers at the seminar.
Regarding Petrobangla's exploration plan, the state minister acknowledged their plan to drill 48 wells, targeting 500 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of gas production. But the country's natural gas demand is expected to surge to around 2,000 mmcfd by then.
He asked Petrobangla to develop a more practical plan that delivers concrete results, adding that the country has a huge natural gas potential.
Mr Hamid also stressed running efficient gas-fired power plants to reduce power generation costs.
The country has some inefficient captive power plants whose efficiency is around 20 per cent, while some newly installed power plants have an efficiency of around 62 per cent, he said.
He projected that diverting gas from inefficient plants to efficient ones could reduce power production costs by up to 70 per cent.
Bangladesh currently has around 9.02 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of recoverable gas as of December 2023, the keynote paper stated.
According to the latest estimate, the total gas initial in place is 38.21 Tcf, of which the recoverable reserve is 29.74 Tcf.
Around 20.72 Tcf of gas has been produced from 1960 to December 2023, it noted.
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